Charles a



(No Model.)

0. A. THOMPSON. APPARATUS r03 PRODUGING GHARAGTERS IN THEIR REVERSE.

No. 400,268; Patented Mar. 2 6, 1889-.

MWADMNWWANMUM mwxagm MMA [/zw. Jimmy! TNESSES: INVENTOR,

ATTORNEY.

UNITED STATES V PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES A. THOMPSON, OF NE\V YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO THE RAPIDDUPLICATING AND COPYING MACHINE COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING CHARACTERS IN THEIR REVERSE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 400,268, dated March26, 1889. Application filed September 18, 1886. Renewed February 8,1889. Serial No. 299,225. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES A. THOMPSON, a citizen of the United Statesof America, and a resident of New York city, in the county and State ofNew York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Apparatus forProducing Characters in their Reverse, of which the following is aspecification.

Under certain processes of copying writing, &c., in the obtaining from asingle written copy reproduced copies therefrom the first writing fromwhich reproductions are taken is reversed or written backward,presenting a corresponding appearance to type-face, and to obtaining apractical and correct placing or writing of such reversed characters ona sheet of paper or other suitable material is the object of the presentinvention; and the invention consists in the combination, with a fixedtablet or board of suitable size and shape, of a tracing-pencil or otherpoint hung through suitable intermediate parts upon a jointed barsecured to said tablet, which pencil is permitted to be moved over thesaid tablet and to be lifted from and returned to such board, asordinarily and usual in writing or printing, &c., and of arms or partscarrying a fountain or other pen controlled by and moved in conjunctionwith the parts directly supporting said pencil; which are at theopposite side of such tablet, and which simultaneously move incorresponding manner to parts carrying such pencil or point, whether onthe surface of the board or away from and return to such surfacethereof, all for the purpose of producing at the reverse side of thetablet, characters which are the reverse of those traced on the obverseside of said tablet, substantially as will fully appear, reference beinghad to the following detailed description and the accompanying sheet ofdrawings, in which Figure 1 is a front view of the tablet having appliedto it the charactenproducing apparatus of this invention. Fig. 2 is aside view of Fig. 1 and partially in longitudinal section Fig. 3 is arepresentation of characters in the reverse as obtained under theoperation of the apparatus of this invention.

In the drawings, A represents a tablet or board of suitable size andshape and, as shown, rectangular. This board A has a lug, B,rig-

idly attached to it, to which is jointed an arm,

C, which may be in one or more jointed parts to allow a swing of sucharm and of the parts jointed, as hereinafter mentioned, in a plane closeand parallel to the face of the tablet A.

D is an arm or bar pivoted at d, to which an arm, D is fulcrumed inbearings d of said bar D, at the outer end f of which is a suitablesocket and clasp, in which a pencil, stylus, or other marking or tracingpoint, g, can be secured. At and secured to the outer end I) of saidbarD is a plate-spring strip, E, shaped, as shown, with an offset into aplane beyond that of the bar D and toward the opposite side of thetablet A, to which is secured a bar, F, of substantially the same extentas the bar D D but on the opposite side of said tablet A, but bothpreferably in the same plane at right angles to that of the tablet, andthis bar E terminates in a socket or clasp, in which a pen or othersuitable marking and ink-depositing device is secured.

At the end (1 of the bar D is hung, by a pivotal joint, 01*, a rod,G,which passes loosely through a hole, 71, in the bar D and through ahole, 70, in the bar F, the outer end of which is screw-threaded, and onwhich a thumb screw or nut, l, turns against said bar F, and whenscrewed down forces such bar F against the reaction of the platespring-strip E toward the tablet and the bar D D on the opposite sidethereof, and when said thumbscrew is turned in the opposite directionthe bar F is allowed to assume a position farther from said tablet, butalways in a plane sub- I stantially parallel thereto. The tablet A ispreferably made chambered or hollowed, as at on, having straight slotsat n near its upper end leading from each side thereof to such chamberedportion, and within this chamber is a pair of guide and feed rolls, p p,for the paper, one of which bears with frictional contact upon theother, and is provided with an axial externally-projecting thumb-disk,t, the turning of which rotates the said feed or friction rollers. Aroller, H, containing paper, q, on which it is desired to produce thecharacters as hereinabove denoted, is located near the bottom of thetablet and can be hung in brackets K, attached, as shown, to a stand, L,in which the tablet rests, or is attached directly to such tablet, andalso a similar roller, H may be provided to carry and supply paper atthe pencil or obverse side of the tablet.

Spring-strips i o are provided at each side of the tablet, to hold thepaper strip closely against the tablet.

In the use of the apparatus described it is preferable to employ a stripof paper at the pencil or tracing side of the tablet, which may be drawnfrom the roll HF, as in the delineation of the characters with a pencil,&c., the same are denoted on such paper, and the writer is thus enabledto observe the appearance, excellence, and progress of his work, and inthe event of his attention being di- "erted to determine how far he hadproceeded. The paper strips to receive the reversed writing, and alsothat on which to trace with the pencil the characters, are led fromtheir re spective rolls, passed under the springs i '0 over the face ofthe tablet to and through the slots 1241 and their ends are guided tothe point where the rolls 1) p are in contact, and by the turning of thethumb-disk zin the proper direction the said strips are carried inbetween such rolls and held by them and by the plate-springs n vsmoothly against the tablet. ()no line of writing having been ex.-ecuted by the thumb-disk I, the rolls 1) p are rotated and the paperstrips drawn up into position for receiving another line of writing. Thepaper strip, which has been entered between and fed by the feed-rolls,is during the time of the delineation disposed in the chamber of thetablet, and is free from interference with or by the working parts ofthe apparatus. When the work has been finished, the strips can be drawnout of such chamber, as is plain. Thus it will be seen that thepencil-point g, hung to the jointed arm G through the bars D D, asdescribed, is capable of being moved in any direction, and withinreasonable limits permitting the marking or tracing of characters asdesired, and that the bar F follows a corresponding and parallel coursethereto on the opposite side of the tablet A, and that if the pen besuitably supplied with ink the same will flow therefrom, as usual, ontothe sheet of paper or other material employed, and that whatevercharacters in the course of the tracingpencil are produced in theobverse on the front side of the tablet A the exact reverse of suchcharacters will be produced on the paper on the opposite side of thetablet, and that in moving the pencil or tracing-point in marking outthe desired characters, in the lifting of such pencil, &c., to spacefrom one word to another, or to dot is or cross ts, the bar D carryingthe pencil at the end f, is raised from the tablet, and the opposite endis depressed, moving, through its connection by thepin G, jointed, asdescribed, the bar F, (carrying the pen,) but in a line away from andparallel with the plane of the tablet at its reverse side; or, in otherwords, the bar F, carrying the pen, at such times as just abovementioned, will be moved bodily away from the face of the tablet asuitable distance, with results too obvious to require furtherdescription, and is returned, when allowed so to do, under the reactionof the spring-plate E, by which it is connected to the bar D.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, 1s

1. In an apparatus for producing characters in their reverse, thecombination, with a tablet, of an arm supported to be moved in a planeparallel to one face of the tablet, and having a tracing-point at itsend, and an arm connected to the movable arm to move in a plane parallelto the other face of the tablet in conjunction with the tracing-arm, andhaving a marking-point at its end, as shown and set forth.

2. In an apparatus for producing characters in their reverse, thecombination, with a tablet, of an arm supported to be moved in a planeparallel to one face of the tablet, and having a tracing-point at itsend, and an arm having a marking-point at its end and connected to bemoved in conjunction with the movable arm in a plane parallel to theother face of the tablet, and having a connection with the said arm forbeing moved toward and from the face of the tablet in a mannercorresponding with the motion to and from the tablet of the same, asshown and set forth.

3. The combination, with a tablet or board, A, of bars D D the onepivoted to the other, and the bar D carrying at its end a pencil ortracing point, and the bar D hung to said tablet through a suitablejoint, and of bar F, connected to said bar I) by a spring-strip, l, anda rod, G, hung to the end d of the bar D, passing to and secured incontact with the said bar F, substantially as described, for the purposespecified.

l. The combinat-ion,with a tablet or board, A, of bars D D the onepivoted to the other, and the bar D carrying at its end a pencil ortracing point, and the bar D hung to said tablet through a suitablejoint, and of bar F, connected to said bar D by a spring-strip, E, and arod, G, hung by a swivel-joint to the end (I? of the bar D passing toand loosely through the end of said bar F, and having a thumb-screw, Z,substantially as described, for the purpose specified.

5. A tablet made hollow or chambered and having a pair of feed-rollers,p p, a slot, '17., and a spring-strip, o, in combination with a stand,L, for supporting said tablet, provided with paper-roll l'I,substantially as described, for the purpose specified.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed myname, in presence of two witnesses, this 15th day of September, 1886.

CHARLES A. THOMPSON.

\Vitnesses:

R. HAMILTON, WM. SEARS BELLows.

